ISNA is known for its promotion of strict Saudi-style Islam in mosques throughout the U.S. Islam scholar Stephen Schwartz describes ISNA as “one of the chief conduits through which the radical Saudi form of Islam passes into the United States.” According to terrorism expert Steven Emerson, ISNA “is a radical group hiding under a false veneer of moderation.”
Brennan is not the only Obama official to address the radical ISNA. In May 2011, Obama’s then-deputy national security adviser, Denis McDonough, gave a speech to an ISNA-affiliated mosque as part of a White House initiative to reach out to Muslims. McDonough is currently Obama’s chief of staff.
In another of scores of examples cited in Impeachable Offenses, in July 2011 Obama’s faith adviser, Eboo Patel, spoke at the main event of a three-day convention held by the Muslim Brotherhood-founded Muslim Students Association.
ISNA’s extensive relationship with the Obama administration started even before Obama took office in 2009. One week before Obama’s inauguration, Sayyid Syeed, national director of the ISNA Office for Interfaith and Community Alliances, was part of a delegation that met with the directors of Obama’s transition team. The delegation discussed a request for an executive order ending “torture.”
ISNA President Ingrid Mattson represented American Muslims at Obama’s inauguration, where she offered a prayer during the televised event. In June 2009, Obama’s top aide, Valerie Jarrett, invited Mattson to work on the White House Council on Women and Girls, which Jarrett leads.
Impeachable Offenses dedicates a large section to Clinton aide Abedin, documenting her personal ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and a Muslim extremist accused of financing al Qaeda fronts.
Also probed is Mohamed Elibiary, a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Advisory Council. Elibiary, president and CEO of the Freedom and Justice Foundation of Carrollton, Texas, fervently endorses the teachings of Egyptian writer Sayyid Qutb, who is widely considered the father of the modern Islamic terrorist revolution, according to Impeachable Offenses. Terror groups worldwide rely on Qutb for their fatwas and ideology.